Details about this story

• Source: Baltimore Sun
• Date: April 13, 2008
• URL: Read the story
• Bylines: June Arney , Fred Schulte
• Topics: Local Government , Tax , Real Estate
• Data Types: Local Data
• Description/Excerpt: More than 20,000 Baltimore property owners who have fallen behind on real estate taxes or services such as water bills must pay up by the end of the month or face possible foreclosure. City officials plan at their annual tax sale next month to auction up to $70 million in liens to private investors, who can then collect the debts - plus thousands of dollars in fees and interest - or foreclose if they can't collect. The liens are mostly for delinquent property taxes but also include municipal levies such as water and sewer billings, charges for sidewalk and alley repair, and fines for failing to clean up trash or other environmental hazards. About 37 percent of the liens don't contain any back taxes, an analysis by The Sun found.